Inertia-operated fuse



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A S. BALDWIN.

INERTIA OPERATED FUSE.

APPLlc/mou man Nov. 23, 191e.

Patented Oct. `28 1919.

2 sHEfs-sHEET 1 lill INVENTOR.

WITN S: wei- ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR S. BALDWIN, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

INERTIA-OPERATED FUSE.

Application led November 23, 1916.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR S. BALDWIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore, State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Inertia-Operated Fuses, of which the following is a speciiication.

This invention relates to an improved inertia operated fuse for shells or projectiles and has reference more particularly to an improved construction of plunger and firing pin mechanism which is normally held in a safety position to prevent accidental firing during handling but which, due to the tremendous shock caused by its projection in a shell from a gun, will become armed on placed in a tiring condition.

The improved fuse device is designed for application with equal facility to the nose or point of a shell or projectile, or to the base of the latter.

The invention is illustrated in the accom- )an infr drawin s in which4 Figure 1, illustrates the fuse case or stock in longitudinal section and designed for attachment to the nose or point of a shell or projectile,-tlie parts being in the safety position.

Fig. 2, shows a cross-sectional detail through the sama-fthe section being taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. l.

Fig. 3, illustrates the device in longitudinal section with the parts however in the armed position.

Fig. 4, shows a cross-sectional detail through the latten-said section being taken on the line 1 -1 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5, illustrates the fuse case or stock in longitudinal section as designed for attachment to the base of a shell or projectile, and with the parts in the safety position.

Fig. 6, shows a cross-sectional detail through the same,-the section being taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5, and

Fig.7, the base fuse-case or stock in longitudinal section with the parts however in the armed position.

Referring to the drawing the numeral 8, designates the case or stock, which in the forms disclosed in Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawings, is designed for attachment to the nose or point end of a shell or projectile, and is provided with external screw-threads 9, to effect the attachment.

Speciication of Letters Patent.

Patented oct. 2s, 1919.

Serial N o. 133,058.

The shell or projectile proper may be of any ordinary construction and is therefore not shown herein.

The case or stock 8, is provided with a longitudinal chamber 10, which is circular in cross-section, and which, in the present instance, is closed at the inner end by a plug or cap 11, having a plurality of passages 12, therein.

A plunger body 13, is located in the chamber 10, and is of -a smaller diameter than the diameter of said chamber, and said plunger body is free of all connection with the walls of said chamber so it may be moved longitudinally therein. This plunger body has a central passage 14, extending inwardly from one end thereof and another central passage 15, extending therein from the other or opposite end thereof. These two passages however are preferably of different diameters,-fthe passage 14., being of a smaller diameter than passage 15, merely to form a shoulder or stop 1G, therein. This stop, however may be produced in ways other than by providing a difference in the diameters of the two passages.

A liring pin 17, extends longitudinally in M the passages 14 and 15, and one end of this pin is provided with some form of shoulder 18. In the present instance the pin has an enlarged head 19, and the shoulder 1S, is produced by tapering or pointing the end of said head. It will also be seen that the shouldered end of the firing pin is seated against an element of the case or stock so that no movement of the pin in the chamber can take place in a direction toward that pointed end.

By providing an enlarged head on the end of the iiring pin a second shoulder 20, is readily produced so that a coiled spring 21, may be slipped onto the firing pin with one end seated against the shoulder 20, and its other end seated against shoulder or stop 16, in the passage of the plunger body, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, of the drawings. As the pointed end of the pin is seated against an element of the case or stock to prevent movement of the pin in that direction, the coiled spring 21, will expand in the passage 15, and by pressing on the plunger-body shoulder or stop. 16, keep said plunger normally pressed away from the pointed end of the firing pin and thus hold In this safety position the plungerY body is seated at the end of the chamber 8, where the primer 22, is located and the spring 21, holds the firing pin in a retracted position with respect to the primer.

The plunger body, in the form shown in Fig. 1, is provided with longitudinal passages 23, through which the flame from the ignited priming-charge may pass to the passages 12, in the plug or cap and thence to the charge in the shell or projectile to explode the latter.

The plunger body 13, is originally provided at one end with an annular boss 24E, which projects therefrom and extends around the enlarged head 19, ofthe firing pin which boss projects toward the shouldered or tapered end of said pin, but is elevated when theplunger 'body is in the safety position,-being held so by the coiled spring 21.

The device above described clearly applies to the fuse device for application to the nose or point-end of a shell or projectile as shown in Fig. 1, and with but a slight modification also applies to the fuse that is to be attached to the base of the shell or projectile, as illustrated inl Fig. 5, of the drawings. In this base fuse however, the plunger body needs no passages to permit the flame from the ignited priming charge to pass, because the primer 25, is-located in the plug or cap 11, and passages 26, are provided in the cap in this fuse device to permit the ignited charge t0 pass into the shell or projectile,

In both the nose and base fuses the operation of the parts is the saine, as will now be pointed out.

Presuining the fuse device shown in either Fig. 1, or Fig. 5, to be attached to a shell or projectile, in which the plunger body and firing pin are in the safety position, accidental explosion, as the result of jars or such shocks as might be occasioned by dropping, cannot take place because the firing pin is held by the coiled Spring so it cannot move toward and strike the primer, 22, or 25. It is to be understood that the spring 21, is of sufficient strength to prevent longitudinal movement of the body or the lfiring pin independently of,V each other, under any accidental shock to which the shell might be subjected, but said springis not sufficient to withstand the tremendous shock, of perhaps tons, to which the shell is subjected during the projection of the latter from a gun.

When projected from a gun, however, the shock of the projection, drives the stock or case forward with the shell whereas the plunger body lags behind, compressing the spring 21, and instantly the annular boss 21, and the closed end of the chamber 8, are brought together at the shouldered end of the firing pin, with sufficient force to effectually upset the boss as at 27, in Figs. 3 and 7 and drive it into engagement with the shoulder 18, thus rigidly locking the plunger body and piii together at the head-end of the said pin. During this? operation the plunger body will of course have shifted its position from one end of the chamber' 8, to the other, and in this latter position, as shown in Figs. 8 and 7, the fuse device is in the armed condition. The fuse device thus becomes armed when actually projected from a gun and remains in the armed condition until the shell strikes, whereupon the' plunger Ibody and pin aie driven forward until the pin strikes and ignites the primer.

Having described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is,-

In a safety fuse device for shells or projectiles the combinationy with a case having a chamber therein, of a plunger-body in said chamber and said body having a central pas-v sage extending therethrough fi'om end to end and one end of said passage being of a greater diameter than the others; a ring; pin having one end smaller in'diameter than the other said pin extending through the" body with the larger end fitting the larger end of the body-passage and the smaller end fitting the smaller end of the body-passage and a spring coiled around the smaller portion of the firing pin and entirely conned in the larger part of the body-passage said confined spring having both ends seated within the central passage to press the body and firing pin in opposite directions.

In testimony whereof I aIiX my signature in the presence of two witnesses.V

ARTHUR S. BALDWIN. WVitnesses:

F. S. STIERTZ, WM. M. TUCKER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by` addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 

